UK Court Orders Blockade of Kickass Torrents, H33t and Fenopy

Blocking of copyright infringing websites in UK started back in April 2012 when Pirate Bay saw a complete ban across all ISP networks. Following this three more trackers were ordered to be blocked under Section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. With recent ruling all major UK ISPs – BT, Sky, Virgin Media, O2, EverythingEverywhere and TalkTalk, will all start blocking the torrent sites.

The blockades are a result of the increasing pressure and complaints from music industry especially from BPI. According to Geoff Taylor, CEO – BPI, “The growth of digital music in the UK is held back by a raft of illegal businesses commercially exploiting music online without permission.”

“Blocking illegal sites helps ensure that the legal digital market can grow and labels can continue to sign and develop new talent.” he added.

The Open Rights Group is of the opining that the court’s ruling is devoid of the interests of Internet users and the public in general. According to the group, “Blocking is an extreme response, which will encourage new forms of distributed infringement. The BPI and others should be mindful that their tactics may have the opposite effect to their intention, by legitimizing and promoting resistance to their actions.”